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Young Britons flock to Croatia

According to figures just released by the country's tourist board, almost 300,000 Britons visited Croatia in the first eight months of the year, a 24 per cent increase on the same period in 2012.

Reasons given for the increase included the opening up of new routes by low-cost carriers; the relative affordability of Croatia compared with Mediterranean countries in the eurozone; and a surge in the number of younger travellers coming to savour its summer music festivals - the Adriatic country is now home to almost 20.

“There is no doubt that one of the biggest factors behind the growth in visitors from Britain is that so many young people are coming to experience the festival season here,” said Meri Matesic, director of the Croatian National Tourist Board.

“We are delighted so many are coming – and we hope that when they are older they will come back to see more of the country; maybe with their children.”

Among the summer festivals that are attracting the crowds are Hideout, on the island of Pag, in early July, the Garden Festival in Tisno later in the month and, new this year, the Unknown festival in Rovinj in September.

The festivals attract some of the biggest names in dubstep, electronic, pop and rock – and the fans flocking to them get to enjoy the music against some of the most beautiful backdrops in Europe.

“I have to admit that it was the festival and the music that attracted me rather than any urge to explore Croatia,” said Lucy Drennan, a 21-year old student of digital music and sound art at Brighton University and one of the tens of thousands of Britons who attended Hideout (pictured below).

(Picture: Charlotte Bridge)

“But it was also the price: rather than going to Glastonbury I could for half the cost get to go to a great festival and fly somewhere exotic too. Unlike in Britain, we had guaranteed 30-degree temperatures, stunning mountain backdrops, great sunset parties and some wonderful secretive locations.

“I thought Croatia was absolutely stunning and I’d love to go back to travel around it properly.”

In addition to festival goers, Croatia has been proving popular with slightly older British couples and people wanting to sail around some of the country’s 1,244 islands.

The tourist board is confident that the number of Britons travelling to Croatia in the whole of 2013 will reach 400,000. The goal, however, is to reach and surpass the figure of 500,000 achieved in 1990, the year before the start of the break-up of the former Yugoslavia.